I groaned as I stared at my computer. It was already 1 AM but I was currently hacking a guy's account. Drinking tea to relax my nerves, I headed to cracking the security system of my target's account.
Several minutes later, I finally got inside. The guy I just hacked into was a member of a certain criminal organization. From the reports of the other agents, it seemed they were experimenting with something.
My name is Reika Eru, an agent of the Global Union of Intelligence and Location Defenders or GUILD. It was an organization that was tasked with making sure the world was safe from any threats. GUILD was backed up by the United Nations and was a secret agency.
It wasn't anything special but I was an agent of GUILD. My family was a long line of agents so it was more of a family business. My father was working overseas while my mother was in another city.
My phone vibrated and when I picked it up, I had a message from my senior agent and partner, Shishiro Botan. She was a very skilled agent who could infiltrate any fortress and could take on groups of people. Our flow was that I would gather all the intel that I could get and then send it to Botan. She would then take out all the bad guys using the intel that I gave her.
Right now, I was having a fun time going through a guy's emails. So fun that I had a headache trying to understand Russian. Thanks to DeepL, I managed to get a gist of what they were saying.
Apparently, they found a way to create monsters. Although they didn't find a method to control them yet, they could create an army of them. When I was done translating and compiling the information, I sent an email to Botan.
It was finally time for me to sleep. I crashed to my bed and closed my eyes.
###
My peaceful sleep was disturbed thanks to the beeping of my alarm clock. I was having a headache thanks to the lack of sleep but I decided to just don't mind it. After eating breakfast which was leftovers from last night, I was ready for school.
Several students were on their way to the school building and I yawned as I walked. Being an agent and a high school student was tough. Even if the pay was good, the job was a huge hassle.
"Morning", somebody slapped me on my back and I saw a black-haired boy.
He was wearing our school's uniform and had violet eyes. His name was Inazuma Jun, my friend. Jun-kun was part of the innocent majority who didn't know about GUILD's existence. It was for their sake that I spend sleepless nights gathering information.
"Morning, Jun-kun", I greeted him.
"So? How's the weekend? Did you do anything fun?" he asked.
Fun? I fricking hacked a Russian guy's account and translated it. If that wasn't fun, I don't know what is.
"Not really. I just worked on my job. Pretty much standard stuff", I told him.
We went to our classroom and after a while, classes started.
It was hard to concentrate when I was really sleepy. I wonder if the excuse "I'm a secret agent who worked overtime" would be valid if I fall asleep.
I managed to hold on for the day and went home. I immediately crashed to my bed and fell asleep. Botan would take care of whatever problems that would pop up.
It was already evening when I woke up because of my phone ringing loudly. Sheesh... If this was related to GUILD, I would snap.
And as my luck would have it,it was indeed related to GUILD as Botan's name was on my screen.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Eru-chan, where are you right now?" she asked.
"I'm at home. Was my intel wrong or something?"
"Not really. I just finished taking out the bad guy's base."
Botan sure was amazing. She raided a base all by herself. That's something I could never hope to do.
"So what's the problem?" I asked.
"They released a monster in a warehouse in your area. Can you stall it until I arrive?"
"You want me to fight a monster? Isn't that a bit too much?"
"Just stall it until I arrive. You're capable of that much", she then hung up.
I took out my gun and rode a bicycle towards the area she mailed me. It was an abandoned warehouse so I was glad that there were no witnesses. But still, fighting a monster sounds scary. I hope I can last until Botan arrives.
A square barrier appeared and I wondered what in the world was going on. I touched it and I could phase right through it. There was nothing weird on the part that was inside the barrier so I think I was safe....
An explosion occurred and I ran towards it. Smoke was rising up and I couldn't see anything until the smoke became violet and disappeared.
My eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. A black-haired boy was facing a white monster. Several violet hologram screens were floating around the boy. It was none other than Jun-kun.
The white monster charged at him and I was about to shoot it until a piece of the ground rose and turned into a wall. It crashed into the wall and Jun-kun smiled.
Twenty swords appeared above him and floated. He then began to touch one of the violet hologram screens and the swords launched like bullets. They pierced the white creature and it groaned. It collapsed to the ground and then disappeared into white rectangles.
"Dump File... Deleted", he muttered and pressed a hologram screen,
The square barrier surrounding the warehouse disappeared. What in the world was going on?
"Now then... I got an evening exercise... I should focus on my...assign...ment", his voice trailed off when his eyes met with mine.
Ah. He saw me... And I was holding a gun.
"Jun-kun?" I asked.
"H-Hey, Eru... Pleasant evening, am I right?"
His face looked troubled. It was as if I saw a secret he was trying to hide.
"By the way, is that a gun?" he asked.
Ah...
"O-Oh? This? It's just a toy", I lied.
"Really? Looks real to me. What are you doing in this place?" he asked.
"I should be asking you that... What's a guy like you doing here in this hour?"
He chuckled and I was on guard. I had no idea what he was but one thing was for sure: he took out the monster. Judging from how he managed to summon swords out of nowhere, he probably has a supernatural ability...
A small violet screen appeared near his hand and he pressed it. Was he hostile? A square barrier surrounded us and I pointed my gun at him. My gun turned into a violet color and when Jun-kun pressed the violet screen, it disappeared.
Tch. He somehow got rid of my weapon. I charged at him. Was his ability something that involved controlling inanimate things? From what I saw earlier, he could summon things and he could make things disappear.
The ground in front of him rose and turned into a wall. So he could control the ground too? I jumped over the wall and was about to kick his head. However, he disappeared and appeared a few meters away from me. He could teleport? What kind of ability does he have?
"Look here. I'm not an enemy... So why don't we talk it out?" he offered.
"You took away my gun and you are in a really suspicious place. What if you decide to end me?" I asked.
"Hey. From my perspective, you are also in a really suspicious place while carrying a really dangerous weapon. It's logical that I would take away any threats."
He got a point. There was no need for us to fight. If he wanted to kill me, he could summon those swords again and skewer me. I relaxed my stance.
"That's better", he started pressing a violet screen and two chairs and a table appeared from nowhere.
"Let's have a seat, shall we?" he said as he sat down.
I followed him and sat on a chair.
"So? What are you?" I asked.
"What if I told you that Reality is like a computer program?"
###
My head was hurting from all of the information that was given to me.
"So... You're a special kind of being called a Coder?" I asked.
"That's right", he answered.
"And currently, you are a Moderator of this Server?"
"Yep."
"And you expect me to believe all of that?"
"You ain't got a choice."
I sighed.
"So? Your job is to clean up those Dump Files from earlier?" I asked.
"Yeah. That's one of my jobs as a Moderator."
I see... It makes sense... Sort of. I never thought my friend was someone who could bend reality to his will though.
"And what about you? I'm not the only one with secrets here", he said.
Well... He shared his secret with me so I guess it's normal for me to share mine too. I told him my job as an agent of GUILD.
"Ah... GUILD, huh?" he asked as he opened up a violet screen.
"Have you heard of it?"
"Yeah. Its name would often pop up in the System Records. Global Union of Intelligence and Location Defenders, right?"
I nodded.
"Well. That explains a lot. Hey, Eru... Can you keep a secret?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"It's not exactly a rule but the Coders' existence is not well-known. It's like knowing a secret of the world or something. I don't really wanna mess with your memories since we're friends and all."
The thought of having my memories tampered scared me.
"Alright then. I'll also ask you to keep my job a secret", I told him.
"Then we got a deal!"
The square barrier surrounding us disappeared along with the chairs and tables.
"Anyways... I gotta go now. Still have to work on our assignments. See ya!" he pressed something on a violet screen and disappeared.
Being a Moderator must be convenient.
A motorcycle arrived at the entrance and a silver-haired beastwoman walked towards me.
"Eru-chan! Where's the monster?" she asked.
Her name was Shishiro Botan, my senior agent and partner. She had a rifle strapped on her back and she looked around warily. Did she just ride through the city with that on her back?
"It's over. I defeated it", I lied.
It made me feel bad to lie to her but I had no choice. I promised Jun-kun to keep it a secret.
"Really? That's great. You're getting better at fighting", she praised me.
"I still prefer desk work than fighting though."
"You're a GUILD agent. You'll have more experience in fights."
After talking with Botan for a while, I finally arrived home. This day was a weird one.
I crashed to my bed and was about to sleep when my phone vibrated. Oh come on... Another GUILD mission?
But instead, it was a weird message from a guy named Mithra. I didn't have anyone named "Mithra" in my contacts.
Have you ever wanted to visit a place that's a world apart?
What the hell was that? Was this an ad for a game or something? I decided to ignore it as I snoozed to dreamland.
The rays of the sun shone down on me and I looked around. I was in a grassland and in the distance, there was a huge sword. Was this a dream?
I pinched my cheeks and it hurt. The sunlight felt real and the winds ruffled my hair.... This was too real for a dream.
In other words, I got sent somewhere while I was sleeping...